Isaias W. Hellman

Values Codes I-H-E-L-P

Isaias W. HellmanFD#1

The life of Isaias Hellman was of the romantic, not because of its weakly sentimentalizing, but because of the mastery which he displayed in working out a great career from humble beginnings, under adverse circumstances to the honor, respect and love of his fellowman.

In that humble home across the seas in an age when the people of our race knew but little consideration, there began for Mr. Hellman a line of conduct which by dint of his industry, farsightedness and humanity was to bring honor to himself and favor to those who were associated with him. –Rabbi Martin Meyer, 1920

Banking

By 1890, Isaias Hellman was looking to expand beyond the boundaries of Los Angeles.

When he heard that the fabled Nevada Bankin San Francisco, was floundering,

Hellman purchased it.

When news got out that Isaias Hellman was taking over the bank, businessmen from across the globe asked to buy stock.

Within a few years, Isaias Hellmanhad turned around the bank and made it one of the leading institutions on the West Coast.

In June 1893 a bank panic hit Los Angeles. Nervous customers ran to their banks and clamored for cash.

Within a day, more than a dozen banks, including Hellman’sFarmers and Merchants Bank, had closed.

When Hellman heard the news, he loaded up an armored railroad car in San Francisco with $500,000 of his own money and brought it to Los Angeles.

Isaias Hellman heaped gold coins on the counterof his bank, which immediately calmed people down.

They saw there was no monetary shortage.

The bank panic stopped.

In 1905, Isaias Hellman was offered the assets of the banking arm of Wells Fargo & Co.

He merged the Wells Fargo Bank with the Nevada Bankto form Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.

He served as President until his death in 1920.

By the first decade of the 20th century, Isaias Hellmanserved as President or on the board of 17 banks on the Pacific Coast.

He controlled more than $100 million in capital!

Hellman was one of the founding members of the California Bankers’ Associationand helped push through stricter laws in 1893 concerning capital requirements.

Other Industries

Isaias Hellman was involved in numerous other industries.

He sat on the board of the Southern Pacific Railwayand helped sell $5 million in bonds in 1895 for one of its subsidiaries, the Market Street Railway.

He held a large interest in the California Wine Association, a company that controlled seven eighths of the wine production and distribution in California.

In 1908, it built the world’s largest winery, Winehaven, in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco.

Isaias Hellman invested heavily in numerous water and power companies in both San Francisco and Los Angeles.

He helped form the Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

Real Estate

Isaias Hellman also owned a lot of property in San Francisco.

He was President of the Banker’s Investment Group that controlled one of the largest blocks of real estate in downtown San Francisco, a parcel that stretched 50 feet along Market Street and 40 feet along Kearny.

Hellman purchased the 35,000 acre Nacimiento Ranchnear Paso Robles

Personal Life

The Hellman Mansion in Pacific Heights, S.F.FD#326

Isaias Hellman and his wife Esther bought a mansion on Sacramento and Franklin streets in the 1890s in the heart of San Francisco’s up and coming Western Addition. (now known as Pacific Heights)

While walking to work in 1895, a man shot at Hellman with a pistol – and missed. The assailant then committed suicide on the street.

Isaias and Esther purchased two miles of shoreline along Lake Tahoeand constructed the area’s first private mansion in 1903.

It was Hellman’s favorite place in the world. The house still stands and is part of Sugar Pine Point State Park. (Well worth a visit)

Civic and Community Involvement

Isaias Hellmanwas an active member of Congregation Emanu Elin San Francisco.

He joined both the Verein Cluband the Concordia Club.

Philanthropy (A Sampling)

Isaias Hellmanwas very active in raising money for the Jews caught in pograms in Russia during World War I.

In 1908, after his wife’s death, he donated $100,000 to Mount Zion Hospitalin San Francisco.

He donated $25,000 to bring the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibitionto San Francisco.

He gave the University of California$50,000 in 1917 to set up four perpetual scholarships.

He was an early supporter of the Eureka Benevolent Societyin San Francisco.

He gave $10,000 in 1909 towards the construction of a new Los Angeles City Hall.

He donated funds to assist in the construction of the Lick Observatoryon Mount Hamilton near San Jose.

He left $25,000 in his will to the Catholic Orphan Asylumin Los Angeles.

Esther Hellmandied unexpectedly in 1908. She was 59.

IsaiasHellman never remarried and mostly lived with his daughter Claraand her husband Emanuel Heller after that.

Isaias Hellman died of pneumonia in 1920. He was 77.

The Presidency of Wells Fargo Bankimmediately passed on to his son, Marco Hellman, who passed away three weeks after his father.

He was 49 and never learned he had been made President of the bank.

Isaias and Estherare interned in a large tomb at the Home of Peace Cemeteryin Colma, California.

Wells Fargo Nevadan Memorial Book

Isaias W. Hellman had almost reached the end of his 78th year when he laid down his tools and went to a rest that sixty years of unremitting activity had fairly earned him. For a period nearly twice as long as the life of the average man, Mr. Hellman had lived and worked for the State of California and for commercial development of the Pacific Coast. –The Daily Commercial News, 1920.

In the passing of I. W. Hellman one more of the men goes to the beyond who formed the group of dominant minds which directed events and enterprises that have made California an empire. –The Los Angeles Examiner, 1920.

Mr. Isaias W. Hellman was a man of sterling excellence such as one seldom meets; a man of remarkably strong self-control coupled with steadfastness of purpose, and an ambition to acquire knowledge on all matters of vital ‘interest. These were qualities which called forth one’s true admiration. –Max Brandenstein, M.J.B. Coffee, 1920.